


this lonely watch I keep

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Rare Pairings, Tropes, Watching Someone Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-07
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-03-11 00:20:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3308654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of "The Man in the Yellow Suit", Joe watches Caitlin sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this lonely watch I keep

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: any, any, dead to the world.
> 
> This may not, especially in North America, be the same way as the prompt was intended to be interpreted... does "dead to the world" mean sound asleep on the other side of the Atlantic?

Joe was still smiling when he closed up the dishwasher, pressing the button to start its cycle. He'd enjoyed the night more than he'd expected to, hadn't realised how much he'd missed having Barry and Iris and a phalanx of their friends under his roof - they hadn't had a night like that since Barry and Iris were in high school. 

Humming under his breath, he made his way back to the living room, stopping when he saw Barry and Cisco standing there with identical expressions of puzzlement and concern on their faces. His cop's instincts, to say nothing of his dad's instincts, both kicked into high gear but it all became clear when he came to stand beside them, could see what they were looking at. 

"We're trying to decide who should wake her," Barry said quietly, looking down at Caitlin lying on the couch. Her legs were curled up underneath her, her head resting on one arm, her chest rising and falling slowly, completely dead to the world. "Even if we don't really want to..."

Cisco nodded, his usual happy go lucky demeanour serious and worried. "She's had a rough few days," he murmured. 

Joe looked from the sleeping Caitlin to the two young men so obviously worried about her to the clock on the mantel and made his decision quickly, not that there was really one to make. "You two head home," he told them and their expressions of surprise made him want to laugh out loud. "I've got paperwork, I'll be here if she wakes up..."

"Are you sure?" Barry looked doubtful and Joe nodded. 

"We've all had a rough few days," he reminded them. "Go. I'll be waiting up for Iris anyway..." Except he knew that that was somewhat akin to waiting for Godot because Iris and Eddie had bailed early and he really didn't want to think too much more about that. Barry must have had a similar thought because the face he made defied description, whereas Cisco's said, plain as day, "Good luck with that."

It didn't take much convincing for the two boys to leave and when they did, Joe locked the door behind them, coming back into the living room and pulling a blanket from the back of the couch, draping it over Caitlin gently. She stirred a little as he adjusted the material around her, a lock of hair falling across her face and Joe saw, as if it belonged to someone else, his hand reaching out and brushing it back, tucking it behind her ear. 

He'd swear her lips curled in a smile as his fingers brushed over her skin. He felt a smile coming to his own lips at the sight, as well as a different sensation, an unmistakable pulse of desire, as sudden as it was intense. 

Swallowing hard he pulled his hand away, told himself firmly that the feeling in his chest was simply a memory, an echo of all the times he'd done that for Iris, for Barry, even for his wife a long time ago. 

He just wasn't entirely sure it was true. 

Sighing, he shook his head, knowing instantly that any paperwork was going to be a lost cause. So he did the only thing that he could. 

He poured himself a drink - straight for the bourbon, no way Grandma Esther's eggnog was gonna cut it, not now - and sat down in the armchair beside the fire, watching her sleep.


End file.
